Shutter Bug
by Millie M. Banshee
Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo is obsessed with taking photos of the macabre after his mother was killed by a strange beast. In his pictures he begins to discover a young woman warrior that can destroys monsters and he becomes infatuated with her. Full sum inside.
1. Prologue

Shutter Bug

Prologue

(A/N I'm trying my hand at another story. This one maybe a little different from most of my others. I hope you enjoy it.)

Summary: Kurosaki Ichigo is obsessed with taking pictures of the macabre after his mother was killed by a monster and camera's last picture was that of the monster. Driven to find the monster that killed his mother he discovers a whole new world that only his mother's camera can see. As the years pass his skills for captures the strange and unusual on film become better and the images only more horrifying. But despite the horrors he has seen through his camera he begins to notice a young woman warrior dressed in black that can take down the white masked monsters and other creatures that cover the earth. His curiosity in this dark spirit soon grows into infatuation and he finds himself wanting to know more about her. But yet when he finally makes some sort of contact with her he finds himself in over his head in things he should have left alone from the start.

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

* * *

"What a strange boy."

"I know. He just transferred here like what two months ago."

"He doesn't seem to be making any friends."

"He hardly talks to anyone he just stay to himself."

"If you ask me he's just a freak with stupid bright orange hair."

"He just runs around everywhere with that old camera of his."

"Yeah. He takes the weirdest of pictures and at horrible times."

"An obvious perv. I heard he tried to sneak into the girls' locker room once."

"Camera in hand I bet. He really needs to get a life."

"I wonder why he keeps that camera around."

"Like I really care? I hope a teacher takes it soon."

**CLICK!**

"WHAT? KUROSAKI, GET OUT MY FACE!" a girl shouted, knocking the old camera out her face. "Have you any manners? Taking a picture of someone without permission! I should report you for doing that!"

The girl, her friends, and others in school hall turned to look at him with scorn in their eyes. This wouldn't be the first time Kurosaki Ichigo had just snapped random pictures of people without consent or warning for that matter. His schoolmates muttered things under their voices as they scattered away from the strange boy and his camera.

It was the end of school anyway. He packed up his belongings in silence like he always did and left the building. His trusty camera hanging off his neck, ready to take pictures at any given moment. His was an old film camera. He used both color and black and white film. He preferred black and white however to color.

He knew what his classmates thought about him and what they said. They called him a freak and a pervert. His alias at school had become "Shutter Bug." Everyone just thought that Ichigo was just obsessed with photography. The Photography Club tried to get him the join. At first it sounded good until he found out they used new digital cameras and computers with printers. He dropped out of the club first day.

Perhaps it was true that was obsessed but there was more to it than that. Outside his darkroom, which was his bedroom closet, no one really knew or understood what he really was seeing through his lens. Sometimes there was nothing on the negatives for days and other times he would capture the most spectacular images.

The camera had belonged to his mother before she died. His mother use to enjoy photography and would always be looking for the next best shot to her portfolio. It just so happened one day when his mother picked him up frym practice that she died. It had been pretty day but do the change of seasons the night came sooner. It was dusk and sun was no longer even hitting the tallest of buildings.

Her camera was hanging off her neck with the lens case in one hand and her son's hand in the other. They paused by the river to take one last picture before the light faded too much. No sooner had she pressed the shutter button did something attack her. She was knocked forward and fell onto Ichigo and down the hill they went. They just stopped short of the river. Ichigo heard one last scream and then blackness took over his vision and all went silent. When he woke up his mother was dead laying on top of him.

The funeral was well 4 days later. His younger sisters didn't quite understand just why they were burying their mother. The concept of death still eluded them. They kept asking why they were putting their mother in the ground and how was she going to get out when she wakes up.

The only thing left of his mother was her camera. He didn't know how to use the darkroom at their house just yet so he took the photos to get developed professionally. He didn't tell his father about doing that. He was hoping that maybe the camera had caught her attacker. When he received his pictures he quickly started going through them looking for anything that could be helpful to him and his family.

What he found, however, was not a man but some sort of monster with a boney white mask. There was only one clear shot of this monster the rest were blurry do to the lens breaking during the attack. He kept the pictures and the negatives to himself. After that he went back to the same location and started to snap picture hoping to find this creature again but he found nothing.

When Ichigo grew older the area in which he could photograph also grew. Finally after about 2 years he had caught another large monster with the white mask. But it wasn't the same one that attacked his mother. He got better at finding these strange monsters and would take pictures of them more and more frequently.

However, as time passed it seemed by capturing these creatures on his camera that the camera was becoming more sensitive to them and not just to the monsters but to ghosts and strange lights also seemed appear on the film. Sometimes even people's auras or the auras of old places would appear. Other strange things as well like when the camera would reveal the true face of someone. He had a few of those that made his subjects look inhuman. It seemed after photographing these creature so many times that a little of their energy would be transferred into the camera and would remain there making him able to capture more and more. But he could only see them through his camera and not with his own eyes.

When Ichigo returned home he didn't say much to family but a small greeting as he headed up stairs. He wanted to develop his film quickly. There were a few photos that he desperately needed to see of this roll of film. After getting the film developed he quickly started to search though the negatives.

"Ah! There she is again," he said, picking up magnify glass to make sure. "That's the 147 time I've seen this spirit. I wonder who she is."

It was a young woman dressed black from head to foot. Even her hair was black. She always carried a sword with her and she knew how to use it too. It was always against those monsters that would eat other ghosts. He had seen many things and some of the things he had captured cut him to the bone.

**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**

"Ichigo, dinner's ready," his sister Yuzu said, knocking on the door. "Hurry or it will get cold."

"I'll be down in just a minute," he said as he heard her walk away.

He turned back to film in his hands. Out off all the pictures he had of this warrior spirit this was the first time he had captured her in color. He could hardly wait to see what she looked like close up. He started into the dark room but paused remembering dinner. He sighed and set the negatives down.

He looked down at them one last time before shaking and headed towards the door. He needed to eat first and then homework. Then he would get to work on his photos. He promised that to himself. That no mater how much he got involved with his hobby he needed to think about his family and school first.

"I wish that there was some way I could talk to you, little warrior," he said to himself as he turned off the light and closed the door.

(A/N Well, tell me what you think about this one. It's different right? I figured this would be cool to do. So I need some feedback please.)

Millie M. Banshee


	2. Developer

Shutter Bug

Chapter 1

Developer

(A/N Well, I got a few more reviews that I thought I would. So let's see how it goes this time. I hope you all in enjoy this story.)

**SOUNDS/sounds**

_Thoughts_

* * *

Finally they were dry. Ichigo waited a whole night for his pictures to dry. He unclipped them from the nylon line hanging up in his small closet and took them into his bedroom. In the morning light Ichigo got his first look of his little warrior in color.

When he usually took her picture she was moving around a lot and he never could get a good look at her through the viewfinder. But now that he had some color prints he was able to enlarge what was on the negative. She had blue almost violet eyes, her hair was still just as jet black, and her skin was pale but still had some nice tone to it.

He got down on the floor and pulled out one of many photo albums. There was a lock it to keep nosy sisters and an even nosier father out. He unlocked it and went towards the back of the album and started to insert his new photos into the plastic sleeves. This was dedicated to his little warrior. From his first known photo of her 3 years back to today's first color photos.

"Huh, looks like it's finally full," he said, still having 5 pictures left. "Guess I'll have to get a new album."

Under his bed were all of his "Mystery Shots" as they were called. Each one had its own theme for what they were. He had ones dedicated to aura shots, basic ghost shots, those masked monsters, strange lights, creepy shadows, miscellaneous creatures, devils, and the ones he calls "Reveal Shots." Which were when he took a picture of someone or something he noticed that when he developed them that they no longer looked human or like the original object. He had a few other categories under his bed as well. He was actually running out of space under his bed.

"Ichigo, breakfast," his sister called from down the hall.

"Coming," he answered, taking the last five photos and put them a locked box on his dresser.

He walked downstairs as he yawned. He walked into the kitchen only to find a large fist coming at his face. He quickly ducked out the way as the fist made contact with doorframe.

"OW! OW!" his father yelped, shaking his sore handed.

"It's too early for that," Ichigo snapped as he pushed his dad out of the way. "Can't I just have one day where I can walk down without getting punched or kicked at as a morning greeting?"

"I'm just trying to keep you sharp, boy," his father stated as he went and grabbed an icepack out of the freezer. "You're getting better I might add."

"Whatever," Ichigo said, sitting beside his sister Karin. "I'm still tired."

"Another late night?" Karin asked, picking up her glass of milk. "You know, maybe you should try another hobby. I know Dad remodeled that closet for it to be a good darkroom but you always stay in there."

"No, I don't," Ichigo protested, starting to pile his food on his plate.

"And if you're not in there or at school you're always exploring the city taking pictures of the oddest things," Karin added, poking her brother in the head. "It can't be healthy. What exactly are you trying capture on mom's camera? What are you looking for?"

"I… I'm not looking for anything," Ichigo said sternly. "I just happen to really like mom's old camera and photography happens to be favorite thing."

"But she does have point, Ichigo," his father said, sitting down across him. "You need to get out with friends and not just take pictures of hapless people and things. You know, have friends over or get yourself a girlfriend. You've been to that school for 2 months down surely there is some young lady that has caught your eye."

"What? Dad!" Ichigo barked.

"Oh, c'mon, son, your 15 now you're past the 'girls are icky' stage," his father said, shaking finger at him.

"Ichigo with a girl friend that would so neat," Yuzu said, looking all starry-eyed as she set the last of breakfast on the table.

"Neat? Weird would be more like it. She'd better be loyal and not some tramp or…" Karin slammed her fist into her opened palm. "It's lights out. I mean it too."

"I know you do," Ichigo groaned, looking at his ebony haired sister. "Hence why there has never been a girl over here."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for my big brother," Karin stated proudly.

Suddenly Ichigo got up and took his plate with him. He dumped the food in the trash and put the plate in the sink. His family looked at him oddly.

"Is something wrong?" Yuzu asked. "You hardly eat anything."

"I'm just not that hungry," Ichigo stated, walking out of the kitchen.

"What are you plans this weekend?" his father called to him. "You know Sunday the clinic is closed maybe we can do something as a family."

There was no answer just the opening and closing of the front door. Mr. Kurosaki slumped down his chair and the girls looked at each other and sighed. Ichigo sure had changed over the last few years. He wasn't himself and he wouldn't talk about anything. He never talked about any friends or anything happenings at school. There was nothing. They thought it was just his old high school, which was why Mr. Isshin had him transferred to his new school 2 months ago.

"I've had enough of this," Karin said, getting up and started out the door.

"Where are you going?" Yuzu asked, getting to her feet.

"I'm going to see what sort of pictures Ichigo has been taking," Karin stated walking up the door.

Karin marched up stairs to her brother's room and walked in. She went to his album cabinet and opened it. She quickly started going through them and found nothing but still life, sunrises/sunsets, portraits and average stuff. So what was that drove Ichigo to photograph almost everything he came across?

She found no albums in the darkroom and none his dresser, bedside table, or desk so that only left his under his bed. There was a knock on the door. Karin turned to see her dad just she pulled out an album from under the bed.

"You know Ichigo is very meticulous about the order of his albums," he stated, looking at his daughter. "I'd be careful if I were you."

"I know, I know," she said, looking down at the album in her lap. "Huh, this one has a lock on it.

She reached under the bed and pulled out another one with a lock. This was odd. Why would he lock his photo albums like this? She started to look around for a key but couldn't find one.

"I wonder what he keeps in here," she grumbled, picking at a lock with a paper clip. "Crap! I can't get it to open."

"Then leave it be," her father said.

"But aren't you the least be curious?" Karin asked.

"I am but I think if Ichigo wants to keep it secret let him," he said, looking down at her. "Come back and finish breakfast."

She grunted and slid the albums back under the bed and stood. She followed her father back down stares and no sooner had they got down there did the sounds of siren approach.

"Look's like we're in business," he said, pulling his white coat out the closet. "Karin, Yuzu, get everything ready."

"Yes, sir," The girls nodded as they left their plates and quickly headed next door to the clinic.

* * *

Ichigo walked out of a store with a couple new photo albums in bags. They didn't come cheap but the locks were good and they were water proof cases. They really were worth it. He also picked up some new film too. He paused for moment and picked up his camera. He got that feeling on the back of his neck telling him something was close.

He quickly started looking around through his viewfinder for the odd feeling he was getting. He looked at a tree near him and saw it crawling with strange little beings. He quickly started snapping photos. He wasn't sure what they were though. They looked like little imps of some sort. Ugly little things really.

After having his fill of them he quickly left them to whatever they were doing. He was glad it was the weekend he had the whole day to explore and take pictures. Today looked like it was going to be good day.

He paused however as he looked up a tall hillside where an old beaten path had been worn out. Just at the top of that hill was a grave yard. His mother was buried there. He avoided that place expect for the days when the family went to honor her. So why was staring up at the graveyard today? He started to move on but suddenly found himself walking up the hillside.

About 10 minutes later he found himself standing in front her grave. His face neutral and cold. He had brought no flowers or incense to burn. He felt bad about that.

"Hey," he said in hushed tone. "I guess it's been while, hasn't it?"

There seemed be no one else there at the moment. He didn't the quiet but the sound of his voice wasn't enough to fill the void. It was better when his father and sisters were with him. It wasn't so quiet or depressing when they were there.

"I miss you and the family is still the same should you be wondering," he said with the same hushed tone. "I'll see you later."

He turned to leave only to feeling the hair on his bed stand up again. Of course a graveyard was always good place to all manner of creepy things. He picked up his camera and started to look around. He didn't see any thing at the moment. He started moving towards the tree line that when he saw her.

His little warrior was talking to another spirit. It looked like a little girl about his sisters' ages. He quickly started to snap photos add just the focus accordingly. This was the first time she had seen the woman in black talking to another spirit. He wished he knew what they were talking about. He needed to get a little closer. Just little more.

He was tucked down behind a large head stone he had to be no father then 20 feet away. This was the closet he had ever gotten to her. He couldn't believe this. He was in awe as the looked through his camera. She wasn't a voluptuous beauty but she was a classic cutie with her large eyes and petite mouth.

Through the viewfinder Ichigo watched as the little warrior pulled out her sword from its sheath and put the hilt on the ghost's head. Okay that was a little weird. He took a couple snapshots as he started to notice a blue hue surround the girl. A look of tranquility took hold of the girl's face as she slowly slid down into the ground. Soon the girl and the light were gone and single black butterfly fluttered skywards and all grew quiet.

**CLICK! CLICK!**

Maybe too quiet. She suddenly jumped and turned to see a human boy, holding some strange contraption in his face. He was currently standing about 5 feet from her. She just stared at him with an odd face. Surely he couldn't see her and what was that strange black box with the long cylindrical thing coming out the middle? She wasn't too sure of it.

"What's that odd look for? You looked prettier just a moment ago," Ichigo said as her pale skin turned bright pink. "Why is your face turning red?"

She suddenly jumped up into the trees away from him. He quickly followed her with his camera as she looked down at him. He focused in on her and adjusted the light setting for the shade of the treetops.

"What did I say? I didn't mean to offend you. Please come back down," he asked only to get part of tree branch crash into the top of his head. "OW! Jeez! What was that for? I just wanted a nice picture of you!"

She started mouthing something to him but he was inept at lip reading so everything she was saying to him wasn't worth a damn. But her annoyed face spoke volumes. It was clear she wasn't coming down any time soon.

"I'm sorry but I can't hear you," he told her as she stopped yelling at him. "Sorry but I'm no psychic or any thing like that. In fact without the camera I can't see you at all."

She mouthed the word "camera" and something seemed to click her head. She quickly jumped down and took a swing at the camera in the boy's hands with her blade. He quickly backed up and moved away. He had lowered his camera by then and had lost sight of her. All he said was "camera" and she flipped. Didn't she know what it was until he pointed it out to her?

He lifted up his camera again and didn't see her. Perhaps, she was gone now. He didn't see her anywhere. Well, that was a let down. He was hoping to get one good frontal shot of her with maybe smile on it. He let out a sigh and grabbed his bags. Oh, well. He started back out of the trees and stopped to look one last time at his mom's grave.

"I'll bring some flowers next time," he said, bow to her grave and started to leave again. "Good bye, Mom."

He walked off and never noticed the woman dressed in black stop to stand in front of the grave he had spoken to. Her large blue eyes read the name Kurosaki Masaki. The boy's family was Kurosaki. He obvious had "photographs" of her and she didn't need those to circulate around the human populous. She needed to get rid of that camera so she was going to follow him until the opportunity presented itself. She was lucky that boy by himself wasn't psychic so this would be easy.

But the main question was, how did a simple camera see her? A Shinigami. What else has he taken pictures of? If that camera was allowing him to see her than he was allowed to see more of spirit world through that contraption, which only meant that the camera had to have some sort of spirit energy within it to let him look into her domain. That camera need to be destroyed and soon. So she followed him and she would follow him for as long as she had to.

* * *

It was around 7 when Ichigo returned home. Yuzu had just set everything on the table for dinner when Ichigo walked in the door. She ran to the door to greet him. He didn't look like he was a much better mood than when he left.

"Ichigo, why were you gone so long?" Yuzu whined. "You know I aught to not give you any supper tonight."

"Fine. Whatever," he said, starting upstairs. "I'm not hungry anyway."

"Ichigo, wait," Yuzu said, running to the bottom of the steps. "We're really worried about. You're not acting right. Is something going on?"

"I'm fine, Yuzu. I just have a lot on mind right now," he told her.

"You're not going to be your darkroom all night again, are you?" Karin asked standing on the top of the steps.

"What's it to you?" Ichigo said, bushing past her.

"It's a lot to me and Yuzu and Dad," Karin said, grabbing his shirt. "What are you doing in there all the time? You don't show or tell us anything about your photography anymore. You used to like to share your work with us and now you hardly give us the time of day."

"Karin, like I said I have a lot on my mind," Ichigo said, pulling out of her grasp. "By the way, haven't heard Dad this evening."

"He's got a serious case over at the clinic. There was a bad accident this morning. A girl about your age was hit by a car as she was crossing the street," Yuzu said from the bottom step. "She was living with her brother for a while but he also had a bad car wreck a few years back but he passed away. She currently lives alone and her parents want nothing to do with her. The girl is name Inoue Orihime."

Ichigo remembered that name from school. She was considered a real looker in the school. He didn't know much about her other than that they shared few classes together. He turned and started down the steps and started towards the front door again setting his bags by the door.

"Where are you going now?" Yuzu asked as he opened door.

"To see Dad," he said, closed the door behind him.

He walked next door and used the key to get in. He headed upstairs to see his father talking to another doctor. It was rare to see another doctor there. Ichigo started towards them. Maybe this other doctor was a specialist of some sort for Inoue.

"I don't know, Isshin, if we should even try to move her," the other doctor said. "She's in really bad shape and my hospital is about a 25 minute drive. I mean, I know I have better equipment and staffing but…"

"I was hoping you could help. I did some digging and her brother passed away her in my clinic few years back. I would feel horrible if I lost his little sister as well," Isshin said with some remorse. "Poor thing her parents don't want her and she had no other known relatives. That's why, Ryuken, I was hoping you could help me."

"Okay, fine. I can bring over some of my equipment and a few of my nurses," he said with a sigh almost like he was annoyed. "But don't expect this favor again, Isshin. It's a one time deal and want my equipment back the way I gave it to you, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah I got," Isshin said with a smile. "Thank you, Ryuken, and tell your boy hello for me."

The man just pushed up his glasses and grunted. He just brushed by Ichigo in the hall. Ichigo turned to see him head down the stairs. He then turned back to his Dad who looked dog tired. He walked over to him as he sat down in a chair.

"Who was that?" Ichigo asked.

"An old college friend of mine. Ishida Ryuken is his name. He runs Karakura Hospital," Isshin said, rubbing his tired eyes. "He's going to bring some of his equipment and staff to help with the patient we received this morning. She's in critical condition and we can't move her to his hospital without more complications."

"Yeah, I heard. She's actually a classmate of mine," Ichigo said, looking into the dark room to see all manner of machines in the room lit up and making noise. "You mind if I go and see her?"

"Go on. She in a medically induced coma. It might do her some good to hear a familiar voice," Isshin said, looking into the room. "You know some people say that when they wake up they remember people talking to them. You don't mind if I crash for about an hour, do you? Keep an eye on her if her and if her condition changes…"

"Come get you. I know," Ichigo said, walking into the dark room and sat down in one of the chairs.

He heard his father walk down the quiet hall. He foot steps get softer and softer until they were gone. Ichigo turned toward the girl in the bed. She had definitely taken a beating from that car. He let out a sigh as he looked at her.

"Hey, Orihime, I don't know how much you know me but we have class together. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. You know 'Shutter Bug?'" Ichigo said, turning to look at the monitors. "Looks like an IV is about run out. I'll have to get you a new one soon. I don't know if you can hear me but Dad is trying everything he can to take of you. He's even called in an old friend from his college to get help. He's supposed to be bringing some better equipment and some extra hands to help you."

Ichigo stood to get the new bag for the IV. He forgot he still had his camera and went to pull it off his neck only to get the feeling again. But why here in the hospital? Was it in this room? It wasn't very bright in there but he just needed to see what was going on. He looked though the viewfinder and he noticed off in the darkest corner was dark shadow about the proper height and shape for a man. But that corner was just too dark to make out anything. Ichigo wasn't an expert on things like this but he didn't like the looks of it and why was it in Orihime's room? He couldn't leave her now with that thing in the room. The only thing left may be to confront it. But how?

(A/N Well, tell me what you think about this chapter. Give me ideas if you wish. Laterz!)

Millie M. Banshee


End file.
